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Household Hero
It's an attractive looking iron, though the Chinese made case is a little plasticky. By way of redemption it offers 2800 watts, higher than average for the price, which ensures the iron keeps up to temperature better.

Its steam output is quite impressive with up to 60g of continuous steam (3 settings) and a mighty 180g steam shot when required. Those watts are certainly put to good use - from cold to maximum heat in just 42 seconds; the big red light illuminates, indicating our desired temperature is set and we're good to go.

Eeek, No Beaker
With all that steam it's just as well the water tank is larger than average at 400ml with an easy fill spout. There's no water beaker provided though strangely there is space in the box for one - surely they can find 2p in the budget to include one?

On a more positive note, safety auto-off comes as standard and a 3 metre cord and anti-scale complete an impressive specification.

Safe to Store
And when you're all done you've got SAFE-STORE, a nice little feature we've not seen before. An indicator strip just above the soleplate will appear solid red when the soleplate is hot. As it cools, the words SAFE STORE will start to appear.

When you can clearly see this text against a darker background the iron is safe to put away. In our experience, this took around 45 minutes from using the iron on the maximum heat setting.

We have seen this iron for sale as low as £30 which makes it a really good buy considering its features. Even at £40 it still represents very good value and rival brands will have their work cut out trying to beat it.